An end to pound tyranny in Utah

Governor signs bill to empower rescuers to save animals local “shelters” are intent on killing.

Bowie, a shy 15-week-old puppy, was killed by the Los Angeles County pound, despite a rescue group willing to save him. Bowie’s Law was introduced to ensure that animals like him, who have a place to go, would be spared by requiring California shelters to notify rescuers before killing an animal. Bowie’s Law was such a simple, commonsense law it is astonishing that anyone opposed it. But it was opposed by Best Friends Animal Society, at the behest of its regressive partners like the National Animal Control Association. Now Best Friends is celebrating passage of a similar bill in Utah. In fact, the language is nearly verbatim to the bills I wrote for The No Kill Advocacy Center, like Bowie’s Law in California and Oreo’s Law in New York, which Best Friends also helped kill. In opposing Oreo’s Law, Best Friends claimed pound managers should not be second guessed when they decide to give an animal a lethal dose of barbiturates, even with rescuers ready, willing, and able to save them.

SB 201, a bill to make it illegal for Utah pounds to kill animals that rescue groups are willing to save, has passed the Utah House and Senate and was just signed into law by the Governor.

The bill, modeled after The No Kill Advocacy Center’s Animal Rescue Act, requires “shelters” to notify qualified groups two days before killing animals and allow their rescue. It will save lives, save money, spare rescuer suffering, and bring in millions of dollars in tax revenue.

In California, for example, a similar law has been on the books since 1998. It has increased the number of animals transferred to rescue groups rather than killed from 12,526 a year to 99,783 — a nearly 700% increase, all at no cost to taxpayers. ​In fact, it resulted in a potential cost savings of over $4,000,000 statewide for killing and destruction of remains. Over 2,000,000 animals have been saved since the law’s inception.

While Best Friends issued a press release applauding SB 201’s legislative passage and claiming to have helped draft it, the language was taken nearly verbatim from prior No Kill Advocacy Center bills in other states that Best Friends has opposed and, in some cases, helped defeat, such as Bowie’s Law and Oreo’s Law. Best Friends helped kill these bills at the behest of its regressive partners, consigning tens of thousands of animals to certain death every year and hundreds of rescuers to heartbreak.

Although Best Friends still uses No Kill catchphrases like “save them all,” it increasingly takes regressive positions that undermine No Kill efforts and legitimize killing as it has grown into an organization with $126 million in annual revenue and $153 million in assets.

This includes encouraging shelters to make pandemic-related closures permanent — closing their doors to people, including volunteers, rescuers, families looking for lost animals, and adopters unless they make an appointment; as well as advising municipal shelters to silence critics by forbidding volunteers and rescuers from exposing killing and inhumane conditions.

One question remains: Will Best Friends continue to oppose rescue rights in other states, now that they supported it in their own? We will find out soon enough.

SB 201, the Utah Animal Rescue Act, goes into effect on May 6.